Large appliances, e.g., water heaters, air conditioning units and the like, are particularly difficult to package to prevent damage during shipping and handling. Typically, large appliances use packaging assemblies that are bulky and take a lot of storage space. Further, the packaging assemblies are usually discarded after the appliances are delivered and cannot be reused. Thus, there is a need in the industry to provide a packaging assembly that is not bulky, saves storage space, is inexpensive and can be reused after delivery of the appliance.
In addition to large appliances, other items that are packaged and shipped can benefit from having a packaging assembly that is not bulky and can be reused. Moreover, items that are shipped come in all shapes and sizes and many of these items have a smaller profile than a large appliance. It would be desirable for certain types of these smaller items to be positioned in a shipping container and held in place during shipping and handling. This would help to prevent damage to the item, allow better use of the volume in the shipping container, and present a more organized arrangement of the item to the customer for use when the item arrives at the desired destination. Examples of such smaller items that can be shipped with the packaging assembly of this invention include, but are not limited to, spools of filamentary material, such as nylon.